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Tuesday, 13 August 2013

The
question is what do Malaysians want? We have been side-tracked so many times. More
recently, the real issues are hidden from us by raising the spectre of Chinese triumphalism.

Chinese
triumphalism? I first heard of this term from a veteran journalist from the
mainstream media. I take it to mean, that successive victories by Chinese in
various fields translate into euphoric sense of importance culminating into
something of a middle kingdom mind-set or attitude. It results in the Chinese
feeling they, their thinking, their way are superior and this attitude will
result in triumph in any endeavour they set out to do.

Being
the middle kingdom, all other nations are vassals to the Chinese empire. Do you
know that 400 years ago, a Brunei Sultan went over to China to present the
Chinese emperor with fine silk and he died there and a shrine was built in his honour?

Now,
Chinese Triumphalism treated as a mental jump-start, gives the Chinese a sense
of manifest destiny that in the end, they will triumph over all others. That thought
is scary.

If
we were to be factual about it- this mind-set is unavoidable and should be embraced
and respected but not feared. The Chinese has had a 4000 year of cultural
history infused into their personality or as Lee Kuan Yew puts it colourfully- a
thinking that has been shaped through epigrams- short sayings that seem to
explain everything in simple manner. What needs to be said has been said by
Chinese sages. Remember the master instructing mosquito via short sayings in
the tv series Kung Fu starring David Carradine? Those were epigrams.

Chinese
political victories are seen as something that has emboldened the Chinese as a
whole into demanding and asking for more. That something more is control of the
government. Which the Malays see as their enclave.

What
can the Chinese want other than what is achievable within the context of
Malaysia? That despite Chinese triumphalism? In the end, it’s not what the
Chinese or Indian want, but what all Malaysians want. Even if all the Chinese
unite under one political party- let’s say all Chinese based parties merge with
DAP naturally becoming the leader, the Chinese form 25% of the population. If they
combine with the Indians with another say 10%, the non-Malays still form 35%. Not
enough to topple a Malay/Bumiputera dominated government.

If
Malays privately think that all the Chinese are the same- MCA or DAP or Gerakan
or any other Chinese based are the same as in being like-minded, they see the
Malays in the same light. Privately they will think that Malays are like-minded
whether they are UMNO, PAS, or Bejasa or any other.

But
let me try to answer what the Chinese want. I am basing my observations on my
experience with the Raub Chinese. What do they want? They want fair dealing
from a fair minded government. They recognise more can be achieved with a Malay
leading the political will. Otherwise, what they demand, ask or request will be
seen as a demand from a Chinese group made on a Malay dominated government. Immediately
the Malays will be on the defensive, suspecting Chinese pressures as being
directed at toppling the status quo.

So
the Chinese adjust. They take the political environment as a given. They accept
Malay political leadership. But they want fair dealing from a fair minded
government. They want decent housing, education and health care. They want land
to cultivate and earn a living. They want basic infrastructure and services to
be in place. Other than that, the Chinese will self-sustain.

This ability is both a source of fear and envy.
Fear because the Chinese independent mind rivals the dependent Malay mind which
is a source of irritation to the powers that be. Because such a mind-set can be
infectious. It’s teachable.

Envy
because, the mind-set has enabled the Chinese as a whole to operate as an achievement
oriented group.

Not
that they don’t want to be a government, but they recognise the numerical impossibility.
It’s like the Malays in Singapore. They would want to be government but with
Chinese forming 80% of the population, they adjust and endure.

The
Malays in Singapore have therefore acquired the survival traits of that the
Chinese adopted at the turn of the century when they came to Malaya. First,
they appreciate that there is no such thing as free lunch. No one owes them a living.
They learned the hard way that they lived in a society based on effort and
merit, not wealth and privilege that comes with accidental birth.

The
Chinese as far as I can observe in Raub at least has acquired these traits as a
matter of fact. They understand the way forward requires them to answer and respond to the external environment
taken as given- that Malays form the political masters, the social milieu in
which they lived is Malay dominated. The way forward is by effort and merit
sharpened with the underlining awareness that no one owes them a living. As for
life, they take care of themselves.

The
environment which facilitates the self-care is what they want. Fair dealing from
the government. Rights to own property. Right
to apply for land to cultivate, to own a home, to get a decent education that
serves their economic agenda, being treated as equals before the law. The rest,
they take care of themselves.

8
comments:

The question should be "What Malaysians do not want. We do not want Najib for sure and thieves running the country. We also do not want MACC, EC, ROS, Parliament Speaker, AG, unjust judges, police officers who go after whistle blowers etc.

Some Chinese wants the Malay to continue to be dependent and never grow independent. Easier to cari makan and less competition, which the Malay surprisingly accept such expectation because it involves less effort.

Until the Malay accept the fact they can actually compete and stand on their own, UMNO will rule.